Peas and Hearts
Posted: 05/15/2013 Filed under: outfits | Tags: blogging, f21, fashion, frye, j.crew, teacher outfits, teaching, teaching science, teenagers, Warby parker Leave a comment »Intensive week ended, and it’s bittersweet. Of the all the kids we taught to blog, two have been keeping up with it into the next week post-intensive. Yay Celeste and Cathy! The school year is winding down, only 16 days till my kiddos take their Living Environment (biology) regents exam. Regents exams are a double whammy: kids have to score a 65 or above to graduate, and my performance as a teacher is evaluated based on how many kids pass. So what happens? I stress out insanely about getting through all the material and the last few weeks are a mad dash to get through the standards. Also, I stress out about the kids who are failing the class, which is attributed to a lack of motivation to complete assignments obviously is becasue my curriculum is not engaging enough nor is it rigorous enough. Since apparently good teachers know, there is a correlation between increased rigor and engagement/buy in. Seriously, I’d like to see the data for that. I have my own informal data from my classroom and it shows that the harder I make an assignment, the less the students are motivated to complete it. I wish that wasn’t the case, but it is. I just don’t know what the answer is.
I’m going off on a depressive tangent here, so I’ll stop and instead write about a shallower topic…clothes! I’ve love, loved this corduroy pea coat for the past 8 or so years and it’s about to get packed up for the summer. I love the cut and how the collar pops up when I button it – keeps my long neck shielded from the wind. 
glasses: warby parker – coat: super old gap – sweater: old j.crew – jeans: old f21 – shoes: frye
sad face
Posted: 04/19/2013 Filed under: outfits | Tags: baggu, Brooklyn, f21, fashion, jawbreaker, sad face, sadface, weekend, whenitpainsitroars Leave a comment »Picked this sad face up last weekend. This pouch turns frowns upside down, as does one of my top five favorite bands of all time. If you haven’t yet, and you were/are a fan of Jawbreaker, check out Blake’s latest, the Forgetters.
pouch: baggu – belt: gap – jeans: f21 – shoes: converse
Stay-cation
Posted: 04/02/2013 Filed under: outfits | Tags: converse, f21, fashion, freitag, h&m, memorials, merchant marines, New York, rayban, spring break, staycation, topshop, urban outfitters Leave a comment »Sadly, my spring break is coming to an end. It’s been a sweet week and a half. I took a trip to visit Jojo, my good friend Aimee came out to visit, and B and I enjoyed a day-long stay-cation. He took off work today and we went exploring in Manhattan. We started at the very southern tip and wound our way north to Central Park, then headed back down south stopping at my favorite basics shop Uniqlo on the way. I got B to buy some new pants in a snazzy preppy stripe. He’ll probably never wear them unless I force him to – which will be often! Today was all about warmth and comfort. Spring has sprung, but it was still super windy and cold today. Perfect for my new favorite sweatshirt from the men’s section of H&M- I’m all about men’s clothing lately.
I particularly loved all the memorials down in the south end, especially the Merchant Marines Memorial. I also found a Schenck on the WWII memorial, an electrician from Kansas.
sunnies: ray-ban – scarf: topshop – sweatshirt: h&m – jeans: f21 – socks: uo – sneaks: converse – bag: frietag
Orange you glad?
Posted: 02/25/2013 Filed under: outfits | Tags: Brooklyn, f21, j.crew, madewell, san francisco, steve madden, teacher outfits, uniqlo, Warby parker 1 Comment »I was happy to be back in SF last week, but I’m also happy to be home. It was a week filled with friends and also included a three day snowboarding side trip in Tahoe (the kids picked up on the irony of heading to Cali to find snow – I got a lot of comments on that today). There really is nothing like San Francisco air (except maybe the water!). Spring break is already around the corner, and I’ll be getting another breath of fresh air when Aimee comes to visit!
This wrinkly top is an old one from Madewell. I have a slight obsession with the color (burnt sienna?), but the material seems to harbor smells. TMI?
glasses: warby parker – sweater: uniqlo – blouse: madewell – tank (underneath) & jeans: f21 – boots: steve madden – belt: j.crew – necklace: my mom’s hand-me-down
double down
Posted: 01/31/2013 Filed under: outfits | Tags: anthropologie, f21, fashion, h&m, salt, teacher outfits, teaching science Leave a comment »It’s a double down week. This is my typical clothing strategy…wear the same thing all week with a dress or two in between to break it up. It cuts down on laundry, something I actually have to be conscious of here in NY, where I have to lug laundry out of the building. This week is a perfect example of that strategy. Monday: Forever 21 stretch jeans and a hoodie (staff PD day, no kids), Tuesday: dress, Wednesday and Thursday: Forever 21 stretch jeans and a creamish/whiteish topper. Also, we’ve been in the lab this week, working on a 4 day procedure aimed at demonstrating osmosis and diffusion with onion cells and dialysis tubing. It’s been fun and I love lab days – but the heater has been stuck on “broil” in the lab room. Oh hello, extreme temperature changes!
Exhibit A of double down: Wednesday
Exhibit B: Thursday
Pardon the cheesy “hands on hips” pose. I don’t know what I was thinking.
Wednesday ~ shirt: tobi – necklace and jeans: f21 – belt: h&m
Thursday ~ (old) glasses: salt – sweater: (old) anthropologie (last seen here)- jeans: f21 – belt: h&m – shoes: minetonka
new addition/new edition
Posted: 01/26/2013 Filed under: fun stuffs, outfits | Tags: antitragus, Brooklyn, bumble and bumble university, f21, fashion, nautical stripes, New York, piercing Leave a comment »No news here, just some new additions:
New hair – free, through the Model Project at Bumble and Bumble University. I don’t know when I started to get so cheap about my hair. In my early 20′s I used to have a regular stylist whom I visited religiously every 6 weeks to get my hair cut/colored/touched etc. I guess all that eventually gave me wallet fatigue, because I stopped doing much with my hair in my mid 20′s. It whittled down from $150 haircuts to $60 cuts to $12 Great Clips cuts to $0 sister with a pair to Friskars cuts.
New hole – B was out of town last weekend and I was bored on Saturday night but also didn’t feel like going all the way to Williamsburg to meet a friend for drinks. I’m no stranger to piercings (see here, here and here), so I headed to my friendly neighborhood shop, The End is Near. Hello new anti-tragus hole. It’s still swollen and the skin around it is flaking, but it’s healing nicely now. For those who have to ask, no, getting it done didn’t hurt. But the aftercare/healing hella hurts.
New stripey top – I went shopping yesterday and picked up a number of t-shirt type tops from Forever 21 and H&M. This one, from F21, is supposed to be a dress. But with my freakishly long torso and 6’0″ frame, it’s a shirt, albeit a long shirt. I like the stripes (like everyone else in the blogosphere/world, I love nautical stripes) and the little pocket on the boobie. It will be good for a lazy, I don’t want to think in the morning item to throw on for the classroom.
On that note, I haven’t been posting lately. I’ve been lazy and I haven’t bothered with being inventive with my wardrobe. So what have I been wearing lately? See this post and this post. That’s basically it, along with about 4 layers of sweaters, coats, scarves and hat because it’s been damn cold here in NY.
I’ve been listening to New Edition lately. I’m nostalgic for the days of classic R&B where they didn’t feel the need to include words like bitches, hoes, bootie, and ‘got your girl workin for me’. So, here’s a little palate cleanser.
winterizing
Posted: 01/09/2013 Filed under: outfits | Tags: f21, fashion, j.crew, steve madden, teacher outfits, topshop 3 Comments »I love how some dresses can be winter-ized by just adding a few things. This dress, I’ve taken from the balmy crisp SF weather, through to hot muggy Brooklyn summer, straight into the dry freeze-your-ears-off Brooklyn winter. All it takes is the addition of a scarf, wooly tights, cardigan and suede booties. Of course, there was a coat involved, but I left it off while inside. Dress, during summer last seen here. Next time, I’ll have to remind myself to use a few more squirts of Static Guard
scarf: topshop – cardigan and belt: j.crew – dress: f21 – tights: h&m – booties: steve madden
sack it to me
Posted: 12/29/2012 Filed under: outfits | Tags: date night, f21, fashion, madewell, New York, personal style, uniqlo, zara Leave a comment »Last night B and I went out on a ‘date’, meaning we went out to a nice dinner, and a nightcap. For me it’s an excuse to throw on some tights and indulge in my love for roomy sack dresses. Anything that accommodates cocktails, apps, a main and dessert without making you feel like your clothes are on the verge of exploding. We went to the Library, at Public. On the Schenck scale of goodness (more on that some other day), it was pretty good. Poor picture quality – the hallway lights in our building have that ever present yellow tone and I didn’t want to bother fiddling with the white balance. Also not shown, the 2 other layers, hat and scarf worn on top of the dress to shield me from the freezing weather outside.
dress: united bamboo for madewell (purchased right before christmas at an extra 50% off sale, making it a killer deal for a well made silk dress) – tights: uniqlo heattech (very necessary for the cold front that’s been coming through NY) – booties: zara (on sale now) – clutch: f21 (old)
3 Mile Dim Sum
Posted: 10/31/2012 Filed under: outfits | Tags: alternative apparel, boutique 9, Brooklyn, dim sum, f21, fashion, freitag, gap, levis 3 Comments »Today is Halloween. Some people are crazy about Halloween — I am not one of them. I haven’t dressed up for it in years, unless you count this as an old man of the sea costume. Is it really a costume though if it’s your usual look? Nothing here is new…just the same old stuff out of my closet.
hat and jeans: f21 – jacket and belt: hella old gap – shirt: levis (last seen here) – tank: alternative apparel – bag: freitag – boots: boutique 9 cooper ankle boot
Today is also the third day we’ve been out of school because of Hurricane Sandy. Now it’s looking like classes will not resume until Monday. I’m on an extended staycation now. I’m lucky…others in Manhattan, Jersey and Staten Island are dealing with toxic flood waters and sustained power outages. With nothing better to do, we walked all the way down to Sunset Park (Brooklyn’s Chinatown) for lunch. The subways are still down so from Park Slope it was a 58 block walk (3.5 miles). Dim Sum at Bamboo Garden was mediocre at best. There are three more large dim sum houses in that area though, so I’ll eventually get around to trying all of them to find my favorite.
Nelson was obliging enough to let me test out my camera settings on him. Thanks, bud.
Bad Dog!
Posted: 10/14/2012 Filed under: outfits | Tags: bambi, f21, fashion, j brand, madewell, urban outfitters, Warby parker 1 Comment »Took Bambi on a walk today, and she immediately stated acting like a butthole – ie. growling, snarling and trying to attack other dogs. She has serious small-dog-asshole syndrome, that I’ve never been able to break. My newest tactic has been to try the Gentle Leader. All it’s done so far is make her look even crazier when we pass other dogs, which in turn makes me look like the crappiest dog owner ever. I’m not a bad dog owner, I swear! She’s just a crazy mean old chihuahua. See below, Butthole Bambi in action on a normal everyday walk.
Her being a butthole on our entire walk soured my mood, which then soured the mood of the aussie, B. Not even my new scarf fixed things and I had a squeeze out a smile for this photo. 
hat: f21 – glasses – warby parker – scarf: madewell – jacket: urban outfitters – t-shirt: hanes – belt: gap – jeans: hella old j. brand – bag: marc by arc – shoes: adidas
PS. I’ve had Bambi for about 6 years now, and she’s been this way the whole time. I’ve tried everything under the sun to train her, from dog whisperer style to pack walks to muzzles to hired expensive trainers. Nothing has worked, so I’ve resigned to just accept her for who she is – a mostly sweet cuddler who loves squeaky toys but hates all other dogs and children. And before you pass judgment on me for naming my dog Bambi, she came from the rescue with a gag-reflex name: Barbie.
